Teide fresh, in peak form for Longacres Mile

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - With big money being offered at Emerald Downs and Northlands Park in the next two weeks, horses based at Hastings are headed out of town.

Teide and Bank Emblem are both shipping to Seattle to run in the Grade 3, $300,000 Longacres Mile this Sunday. Texas Wildcatter was nominated to the Mile but the race overfilled, and with highweights preferred, he couldn't get into the field. Also going to Emerald to run in the Emerald Distaff on Sunday are Holy Nova and Blue Sky Holiday.

Teide, trained by Dino Condilenios, is coming off an impressive win in the $101,000 Lieutenant Governors on July 1 and would appear to have a better chance of winning the premier race at Emerald than Bank Emblem.

Trained by Rob Gilker, Bank Emblem goes into the Mile off a second-place finish to Test Boy in the $50,000 Don Fleming Handicap at Northlands Park on July 25.

Teide appears to be peaking coming into the Mile. His ascending Beyer Speed Figures for the year read 84, 93, and 97. In his first start this year, he made a strong late run to finish a close fifth in the 6 1/2-furlong George Royal Stakes on May 2. He came back to score an easy win over Reel Prime in a 1 1/16-mile, $50,000 optional race on May 30. In the 1 1/8-mile Lieutenant Governors, Teide stalked a fast pace, and after taking the lead at the quarter pole, he easily held off a late bid by Texas Wildcatter.

Teide will be going into the Mile off a 6 1/2-week layoff, but Condilenios isn't worried about the time off.

"He's fit enough and he just couldn't be doing any better," said Condilenios.

Teide worked a bullet five furlongs in 58.60 seconds with exercise rider Christine Loseth aboard last Sunday. The move was a little too quick for Condilenios's liking.

"I didn't want him to go that fast, but he worked right after the break and there were a ton of horses working at the same time," said Condilenios. "He just kept going after and passing horses that were breaking off in front of him."

Condilenios is planning to ship Teide to Emerald on Friday morning and then school him in the paddock on Saturday.

"He's been to more racetracks than I have, so I don't think I need to take him down there too early," he said. "His exercise rider won't be coming down, so I'll just show him around the paddock and let him get comfortable."

Tommy Danzigger should like derby distance

Gilker and Condilenios are also headed to Northlands for the 1 3/8-mile Canadian Derby on Aug. 22 with Tommy Danzigger and Almost Time.

In this case, Gilker should have the edge with Tommy Danzigger.

Tommy Danzigger easily handled Almost Time in the B.C. Cup Stellar's Jay on Aug. 3. The final time of the race was fast, 1:43.35, and he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 94. Granted, Almost Time was coming off a layoff and also stretching out for the first time. Nonetheless, with a modest 202 Tomlinson rating for the Canadian Derby distance, Almost Time has to be a bit suspect going that far. In contrast, Tommy Danzigger has a 376 Tomlinson for the distance.

"I'm sure the distance is a concern for everybody," said Gilker. "He came out of his last race in great shape, so it's all systems go."

With Pedro Alvarado aboard for the first time, Tommy Danzigger went right to the front in the Stellar's Jay. He is not one-dimensional, however. He came from off the pace to win the $107,000 Ascot Graduation last year.

"Pedro just took advantage of a track that had a tremendous speed bias," said Gilker. "Obviously he won't be able to set the same kind of fractions going a mile and three-eighths. We'll just see how the race shapes up and go from there."

After the Stellar's Jay, Condilenios wasn't sure if he was going to run Almost Time in the Canadian Derby. He committed to the race after seeing how much Almost Time has moved forward off a race he clearly needed.

"We're asking a bit of him," said Condilenios. "But he's a pretty talented horse to be off that long and run in 43 and change. If he didn't come out of his races as well as he did, we probably would have stayed home. Plus, if he runs in the Canadian Derby, he should have plenty of time to recover in order to run in our derby."

Condilenios was referring to the Grade 3 B.C. Derby on Sept. 27.

Trainer Dave Forster will be running Senor Rojo in the Canadian Derby. Senor Rojo is coming off a win in a $75,000 optional race on Julyo26. In his previous start, he lost by a nose to El Cugat in the 1 1/16-mile Chris Loseth Stakes on July 1. Tommy Danzigger finished third that day.